Economic Distress Index

A county-level measure of economic distress based on seven indicators.

Key Insights

  • Eleven of the 27 counties in the South Kansas Region fall within the fourth quartile (i.e., most distressed) of the index for all Kansas counties.

  • Only five of the 27 counties in the South Kansas Region fall within the first quartile (i.e., least distressed) of the index for all Kansas counties.

  • Chautauqua County is the most distressed county in Kansas (and the South Kansas Region).

  • Miami County is the least distressed county in the South Kansas Region.

Methodology

The index combines seven indicators into a single, comparative measure of economic well-being. The index is constructed from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates and County Business Patterns (CBP) datasets. Figure 1 contains the seven indicators along with their descriptions and sources.

Table 1: Economic Distress Indicators and Descriptions

These seven indicators are individually normalized across 105 counties on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents the most distressed county and 0 represents the least distressed county. The individual indicators are normalized using the following formula:

\[\text{Index Indicator}_{ij} = \frac{X_{ij}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}}{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}} \times 100, \]

where 𝑋𝑖𝑗 is the value of indicator 𝑖 for county 𝑗.

In most cases, higher values represent greater distress; however, for the median income ratio, change in employment, and change in establishments, lower values indicate greater distress. Therefore, normalization requires a slightly different formula:

\[\text{Index Indicator}_{ij} = \frac{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-X_{ij}}{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}} \times 100. \]

The final index value results from taking the geometric mean of the seven indicators. To handle the zeros, one is added to each normalized indicator; therefore, one is then subtracted from the calculated mean.



Results

**Note:** The borders of the counties in the South Kansas Coaltion are highlighted in the map below.

Table 1: Economic Distress Index for Kansas Counties

Table 2: Distress Indicators and Quartiles by County
(1st Quartile = Least Distressed, 4th Quartile = Most Distressed)

Back to top